Paper container

ABSTRACT

A paper container has a bottom, at least two pairs of side walls, at least two pairs of side margins and at least one pair of strengtheners. The bottom has at least two pairs of edges, and the side walls are integrally formed with the edges of the bottom. Each side wall has a top edge, and the,side margins are integrally formed with the top edge of the side wall. The strengthener has a shape almost the same with the side margin and pasted under the side margin. The paper container has a structure sufficient to provide secure, water-proof, low-polluting transportation for food.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a paper container, moreparticularly to a paper container with a strong and reliable structureto transport food.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] More and more people prefer to buy prepared meals rather thancook at home. However, the convenience of collecting food at an outletrather than have to dress tidily for a restaurant etc means thatdisposable containers are an essential part of modern dining. Most ofthe disposable containers are made of paper to allow for recycling andare water-proof. A conventional paper container has a bottom surface,multiple side walls and a round top edge. The bottom surface isintegrally formed with the side walls and each side wall is integrallyformed with the adjacent side walls. The conventional paper containersare often shallow with a side wall weaker than the bottom surface. Whencontaining food with large volume or weight, or soup inside theconventional paper containers, the conventional paper container iseasily damaged, leading to loss of the food, mess, staining of clothesand so on. Clearly those limitations put off some consumers and thusthere is a demand for a reliable and secure paper container.

[0005] The present invention provides a paper container with a strongerside wall than a conventional one to mitigate or obviate theaforementioned problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide apaper container with a stronger structure than the conventional one toprovide convenient and secure transportation of food.

[0007] The paper container has a bottom, at least two pairs of sidewalls, at least two pairs of side margins and at least one pair ofstrengtheners. The bottom has at least two pairs of edges, and the sidewalls are integrally formed with the edges of the bottom. Each side wallhas a top edge, and the side margins are integrally formed with the topedge of the side wall. The strengtheners have a shape almost the samewith the side margin and are adhered to an underside of the side margin.With the structure of the paper container, the paper container canprovide convenient and secure transportation of food and with a lowpollution threat due to the container being made of recyclable material.

[0008] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the inventionwill become more apparent from the following detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper container of a firstembodiment in accordance with the present invention;

[0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded plan view of the paper container in FIG. 1;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a partial exploded perspective view in FIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 4 is a plan view of showing a bottom surface in FIG. 1;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a second embodiment of a bottom surfaceof the paper container;

[0014]FIG. 6 is an exploded plan view of a third embodiment of the papercontainer;

[0015]FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a fourth embodiment of thepaper container; and

[0016]FIG. 8 is an exploded plan view of a fifth embodiment of the papercontainer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0017] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, a paper container (10) of a firstembodiment in accordance with the present invention is made ofwater-proof paper and has a bottom (11), at least two pairs of sidewalls, such as two small side walls (12) and two large side walls (13),two small side margins (124), two large side margins (134), twostrengtheners (135) and multiple connecting pieces (14).

[0018] The bottom (11) has two short edges (not numbered) and two longedges (not numbered). The short edges are opposite with each other, andthe long edges are opposite with each other.

[0019] Each small side wall (12) has a bottom edge (not numbered), a topedge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The bottom edgeis integrally formed with the one of the short edges of the bottom andforms a first folding line (121). The small side walls (12) are oppositewith each other.

[0020] Each small side margin (124) has an outer edge (not numbered), aninner edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The inneredge is integrally formed with the top edge of the small side wall (12)and forms a second folding line (122).

[0021] Each large side wall (13) has a bottom edge (not numbered), a topedge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The bottom edgeis integrally formed with the one of the long edges of the bottom (11)and forms a third folding line (131).

[0022] Each large side margin (134) has an outer edge (not numbered), aninner edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The inneredge is integrally formed with the top edge of the large side wall (13)and forms a fourth folding line (133). The large side walls (13) areopposite with each other. The strengthener (135) is shaped the same withthe large side margin (134) and attached to an underface of a respectivelarge side margin (134).

[0023] Each connecting piece (14) is a fan-shaped and is integrallyformed between one of the large side walls (13) and the adjacent smallside wall (12). Each connecting piece (14) has two side edges (notnumbered) and an arcuate periphery (not numbered). The side edge isshorter than the side edges of each side wall (12,13). One of the sideedges of each connecting piece (14) is integral with the side edge ofone of the small side walls (12) to form a fifth folding line (123), andthe other side edge is integrally formed with the side edge of thecorresponding large side wall (13) to form a sixth folding line (132).

[0024] Each small side wall (12) is folded along the respective foldinglines (121, 123, 131, 132) with the large side wall (13) and all piecesare folded towards the bottom (11). The small side margins (124) and thelarge side margins (134) are folded away from the bottom (11) and alongthe folding lines (122,133). Because the connecting pieces (14) areintegrally formed between the short side wall (12) and the large sidewall (13) and each connecting piece (14) is pasted to an outer face ofthe short side wall (12) and up the large side wall (13), the papercontainer (10) can be a bowl to contain food and prevent the food juicefrom escaping. Each strengthener (135) is respectively pasted to anunderface of each large side margin (134) to increase the structuralstrength of the paper container (10) such that the paper container (10)in accordance with the present invention can contain heavy food.

[0025] With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottom (11,11′) of the papercontainer (10,10′) can be folded as a plateau or dome so that the edgesof the bottom (11) are lower than the center of the bottom (11). Becausethe edges of the bottom (11) are lower than the center, oil in food canbe collected at the lower edges of the bottom (11).

[0026] With reference to FIGS. 6 to 8, the paper container in accordancewith the present invention has a third, fourth and fifth embodiments andthe structure of the paper container is almost the same as foregoing butwith different shapes and comprises at least two pairs of the sidewalls. With reference to FIG. 6, the paper container (20) has a bottom(21), two pairs of the side walls (22,23), two parallel margins (24),two arcuate margins (25), two strengtheners (241) and four connectingpieces (not numbered). The bottom (21) of the paper container (20) hastwo opposite arcuate edges (not numbered) and two parallel edges (notnumbered). One pair of the side walls (23) is integrally formed witharcuate edges and respectively extended into the arcuate margin (25).The other pair of the side walls (22) is integrally formed with theparallel edges and respectively extended into the parallel margins (24).The parallel margins (24) are respectively formed as the strengtheners(241). When folding the paper container (20), the strengtheners (241)are folded under the parallel margins (24).

[0027] Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the fourth and fifth embodiments havefurther variations on the configuration of the container. Accordingly,the shapes of the paper container (30,40) depend on the shape of thebottom (31,41). When the shapes of the bottoms (31,41) are either arectangle and an octagon, the paper container (30,40) is formed almostlike the shape of the bottom (31,41). The strengthener (32,42) is pastedto an underface of the side margin to make the paper container (30,40)stronger.

[0028] The paper container in accordance with the present invention hasthe following advantages:

[0029] Strength—The container reinforcements provide a structure thatwill not collapse under the weight of food normally put intoconventional containers.

[0030] Environmentally friendly—Because the container is made fromrecyclable paper, less damage will occur as consumers switch fromplastic to paper, and fewer paper containers will be needed compared tothe prior art due to the superiority of the present invention.

[0031] Design appeal—Consumers previously put off by the crude andunreliable prior art paper containers will be attracted to the ingeniousand novel structure of the present structure.

[0032] Point of use appeal—Professional food providers will be impressedby the reliability of the present paper container whereby food saleswill be increased due to customer preference.

[0033] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of thepresent invention have been set forth in the foregoing description,together with details of the structure and function of the invention,that the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made indetail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of partswithin the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated bythe broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims areexpressed is to be understood.

What is claimed is:
 1. A paper container having a bottom with at leastfour edges; a side wall integrally formed each respective one of the atleast four edges of the bottom and each side wall having a bottom edgeintegrally formed with a corresponding one of the at least four edges ofthe bottom and formed as a folding line; a top edge; and two side edges;a side margin with an underface integrally formed with the top edge ofeach respective side wall and each side margin having an inner edgeintegrally formed with the top edge of a corresponding one of the sidewalls; an outer edge; two side edges; a connecting piece integrallyformed between each respective pair of adjacent side walls and eachconnecting piece having two side edges integrally with the side edges ofthe adjacent side walls and being shorter than the side edges of theadjacent side walls; an arcuate edge; and multiple strengthenersconfigured similar to the side margins and attached to underfaces of theside margins.
 2. The paper container as claimed in claim 1, wherein thebottom is a rectangle with four edges and four side walls are formed onthe bottom.
 3. The paper container as claimed in claim 1, wherein thebottom is an octagon with eight edges and eight side walls are formed onthe octagonal bottom.
 4. The paper container as claimed in claim 1,wherein the bottom is formed as plateau.
 5. The paper container asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom is formed as a dome.
 6. The papercontainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein each connecting piece is fanshaped.